New faces are being lined up to play under new Tigers’ consortium

Sheffield Tigers are on the verge of unveiling their full team after good progress with rider talks over the last few days

The side have so far announced Simon Stead and Adam Roynon for the new season – and co-promoter David Hoggart would like to see Andre Compton back with the club. But he has also said as many as three new faces could feature under the new consortium who are in the process of finalising the purchase of the club from outgoing owner Neil Machin.

Said Hoggart: “We’ve looked at all sorts of options and as a consortium we have looked at various permutations. Whenever there is a group of people involved you are never going to agree on everything but we have hit upon a team which I feel will do a good job for Sheffield Speedway.

“We need to get everything in place with paperwork before we can actually move forward with announcing anything.”

The club have been linked with a move for Swindon’s Nick Morris, but Hoggart has been keen to distance Tigers from any such move.

And they have also been keen to talk to former Lakeside and Ipswich man Leigh Lanham, who has impressed on visits to Owlerton down the years.

“I’m aware of what the speculation has been but I won’t go into that until we can make formal announcements,” said Hoggart.

“We have been left behind in many ways because of the time it took to agree a deal with Neil, but hopefully we’re not far off making the announcement now.”

Sheffield will open their season on Thursday, March 27, with a challenge match and the club are looking into the possibility of Elite League opponents. And they’ve been handed the Premier Riders’ Championship once again on September 21.

Said Hoggart: “The Championship is one of the biggest event in the Premier League calendar and we are honoured to host again. Sheffield seems to have built a reputation as the home of the event, which is quite right when you look at the standard of our facilities.”